


spaces between my fingers

by seventhstar



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Alternate Canon, Fluff, Human, M/M, Romance, commission, human!Astral
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 16:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3775588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seventhstar/pseuds/seventhstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set early in season 4, before Rei or Rio made their debuts. Astral is turned into a human, Yuuma's emotions are confusing, and friendship is magic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	spaces between my fingers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



day one

“Wait, I have to go to the bathroom!” Yuuma threw the tie he’d been trying to put on across the room. It landed limply in the hammock. He shrugged out of his suit jacket. “Stay here!”

“Yuuma, I have asked Shark about this ‘bathroom’, and he told me --”

“I’ll die, Astral!” Yuuma yelled over his shoulder. He dropped down the ladder and into the hallway. The bathroom door was open, and he slammed it shut behind him. He looked around; no Astral.

He did what he had to do, and washed his hands, and sighed at the sight of himself in the rented black suit in the mirror (he had wanted to wear the pink tuxedo from WDC, but Akari had put her foot down about it). Weddings were okay, but Aunt Reiko was mean. Last time he had seen her, they had been attending his parents’ funeral and she had pinched his cheeks and asked him why he looked like a hooligan, didn’t his mother pay any attention to these things?

It was possible that Yuuma biting her in the leg was why he and Akari were never invited to family gatherings anymore.

He had his hands on the ladder when he was blinded by a bright blue flash of light. There was a loud thump, and Akari screamed, and Yuuma scrambled up the ladder.

“Akari!”

“There’s a naked -- person in your room!”

“Huh?” Yuuma looked around. “Hey, Astral, what are you doing on the floor? And what happened to your...oh.”

Astral wasn’t blue any more. He was pale, although he still had all the markings on his face and body. His hair was wilting. He was staring at his own hands in confusion and blinking rapidly.

Had he never blinked before? Yuuma tried to remember.

“Uh, Yuuma,” Akari said. “Who is this?”

“Um…his name is Astral...he’s...an exchange student?”

“Why is he naked in your bedroom? How did he even get in here without me seeing? Is he one of that Shark kid’s gang members?”

“He used the window?”

“I will ground you forever, Yuuma. I will tell Aunt Reiko that you need more discipline and leave you there for the rest of the year, so help me --”

“He’s an alien who lives in my pendant but he got turned into a human! I’m sorry!”

“Excuse me?”

“Yuuma,” Astral said. He held up his hands. “I have become corporeal.”

“Wha?”

“I believe I now require clothing.” Astral stood up. He wobbled a bit as he walked, arms held out wide for balance, like a little kid. He was taller than Yuuma was. He grabbed the blanket off the hammock and wrapped it carefully around himself, dropping it twice as he did so.

Then he sat down again and waited.

“...can I skip the wedding?”

Akari covered her face with her hands. “Yes, Yuuma. You can skip the wedding.” She took out her wallet and tossed him a credit card. “Please go find him some clothes.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Yuuma saluted. She shook her head and left.

Then he frowned. How did underwear sizes work again?

“Hey, Astral, how come you’re a human?”

“I don’t know.” Astral was looking at his own hands again in confusion. He stroked the blanket he was wearing. “This is...strange.”

He looked a little helpless. Astral was normally confident, and unruffled, but now he almost looked afraid.

Yuuma sat down beside him. “Hey, Astral, we’re partners, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then stop worrying!” He nudged Astral with his shoulder. “Until we figure out why you stopped being invisible and blue, I’ll teach you about being a human, okay?”

“Of course.” Astral smiled. “Thank you.”

“Great!” Yuuma held up the credit card. “Let’s go!”

+++++

“Why am I here?”

“I told you, Astral needs pants!”

Shark closed his eyes. He was doing that thing where he said things he didn’t mean again, because he was allergic to friendship or whatever. Yuuma decided to ignore him in favor of Astral, who was hanging onto a clothing rack for balance while he looked through a pile of tight black jeans on a table. Yuuma had eyed the mannequins suspiciously; how did anyone run or jump or do a backflip in pants that tight? Was that why Kaito had to have Orbital 7?

“These.” Astral held up a pair.

“Shouldn’t you buy him underwear before you get him pants?” Shark asked.

Yuuma held up the six pack of boxers he’d grabbed. “I did. Astral said he wanted to pick out his own pants, though.”

Astral was currently wearing a pair of Shark’s grey trousers and a t-shirt with an emoji on that might have belonged to Akari. It was all Yuuma had been able to find; with the height difference, his pants didn’t fight, and Yuuma didn’t have clean shirts because he was too busy dueling to do laundry.

“Humans use clothing to express a great deal about themselves.” Astral gestured at the two of them. “Your school uniform informs others of your age and your place of education. Yuuma’s clothing expresses that he has a limited understand of color coordination. Shark’s clothing denotes his delinquency --”

“Hey!”

“Hey!”

“I’m not dressed like a delinquent!”

“These pants have flames on them!”

Astral shook his head at both of them. He’d been a human for two hours and he was already making fun of Yuuma again. Whatever fears he’d had, he was over them now. Yuuma shook his head.

Astral picked up another three pairs of black pants. “Where are the shirts?”

“This way?” Yuuma pointed in a random direction. He didn’t usually buy clothes, and there were no card shops or noodle stands in the department store.

Astral began making his way towards a rack of t-shirts. Shark took the stack of pants out of his hands; Yuuma slid his shoulder under Astral’s skinny arm. Together, the three of them slowly made their way across the clothing department.

For the next hour, they argued about shirts and jackets. Yuuma accused Shark of bedazzling his own clothing and got hit in the head. Astral bought a shirt with Gogogo Golem on it. Shark apparently knew a saleswomen and got her to start keeping their pile of clothes at the register. All of the Arclight-themed clothing was vetoed (Yuuma secretly liked III’s line). They almost forgot to buy pajamas, and shoes.

“Should we get foundation?”

“What’s that?”

Shark tapped the side of his face. “It’s to cover up all his tattoos.”

“He’d look kinda weird without them.”

“Yeah, but the Barians might attack, remember? Does Astral even have a deck?”

“I do not.” Astral paused midway through trying on a jacket. “Yuuma’s deck is my deck.”

“Yeah, but if the Barians attack…”

Yuuma nodded. “Hey, is there a card shop here?”

+++++

“Oooo, you look great!” Kotori spun Astral around so she could admire him. “Did Yuuma pick out any of this? No, right?”

“Hey! What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“You look like you’re trying to be an anime protagonist,” Kotori said dismissively. “You said you needed help buying make up?”

“Shark suggested something called foundation,” Astral said. He touched his face. Ever since Shark had brought up the tattoos, he’d been doing that a lot, and he kept looking at himself in mirrors. “But my knowledge of human cosmetics is lacking.”

“Where is Shark?”

Yuuma shrugged.

“No problem!” Kotori snagged Astral’s arm. He leaned on her a bit, but he was walking a lot better than he had been before. She dragged him towards the makeup counter; Yuuma followed behind, slowly.

He’d once been ambushed by Kotori at the makeup counter (“Can I do your eyebrows?”) and had avoided them ever since. Girls were weird.

What followed was several minutes of Kotori putting creams on Astral’s face with a sponge, frowning, and wiping them off again. She kept talking about “oxidation” and “coverage” and “undertones”, while Yuuma looked up the address of the nearest coffee shop on his phone, and texted Kaito for help, and took selfies.

“What do you think?”

Yuuma looked up.

It didn’t look like Astral anymore. It was his face, but all the dark blue markings had been covered up. It didn’t even look like real skin; it was too shiny, too flat, almost like the face of a mannequin. His eyes had changed color, too, and now they were both gold. He was a normal human boy, in a Duel Monsters t-shirt and black jeans, someone Yuuma could have passed on the street and not given a second glass.

It bothered him. He didn’t know why.

“Pretty good, right?” Kotori beamed. “You look like a model, Astral!”

“Thank you.”

“It’s great.” Yuuma tugged at Astral’s arm. “Hey, the card shop is going to close, so--”

“Bring him to school tomorrow!” Kotori hugged them both before she left.

Yuuma walked Astral out of the mall, down the street to where a card shop was. It was still open, but it was empty but for the clerk shuffling his deck behind the register.

“Okay,” Yuuma began, “what kind of deck do you --” Astral walked past him, straight to the display of booster packs. He seemed to know exactly what he wanted.

Right. He was a master duelist already. Yuuma went over to look at rare singles.

He was staring happily at Gagaga Cowboy, which was cool and which was going to be his next birthday present, when Astral cleared his throat.

“Yuuma.” His arms were full of cards. He pointed at a shelf behind Yuuma. “What are those?”

Yuuma glanced over his shoulder; it was a display of Duel Monster plushies.

“Eh? They’re just stuffed animals.”

“They stuff Monsters?” Astral asked. His eyes widened.

Yuuma scrambled to correct himself. “They’re toys! You know, for kids.”

“Oh.” Astral rubbed the back of his neck. “Of course.”

Yuuma did the same thing when he was embarrassed. He wondered if Astral had learned it from him. He glanced at the plushies again. They were pretty cute; Yuuma had slept with a stuffed Rainbow Kuriboh when he was a kid, but it had disappeared somewhere…and Astral didn’t sleep, did he? What if he got scared?

He was sort of like a baby, right?

Astral was laying his purchases on the counter. While the clerk rubg them up, Yuuma grabbed a Rainbow Kuriboh and and a Ten Ten Tempo.

“Hey, can we get these too?”

“Sure.” The cashier scanned them. “You want a bag?”

“Nah.” Yuuma tucked the Rainbow Kuriboh under his arm. “Here, Astral.”

Astral held it up. “Ten Ten Tempo?”

“It’ll protect you from bad dreams.” Yuuma said seriously. “Come on, I’ll teach you how to use the subway.”

“Last week you got on the wrong train twice.”

“That was one time!”

+++++

day two

“I don’t understand neck ties,” Astral said.

Yuuma shrugged. “Me neither.”

He was standing in front of Yuuma’s bathroom mirror and trying to tie his tie. Yuuma’s spare uniform was too short and too small, but Yuuma had forgotten to buy him one yesterday, so he was stuck in it.

Not that it mattered, because Astral didn’t want to go to school.

Which, Yuuma understood, but it was going to be fun! Kotori and Tetsuo and Tokunosuke and the class rep would be there, and Shark would be there, and Astral could share his lunch with him when they got kicked out of class and had to stand in the hallway, and they could have a kattobingu contest, and anyways it was too dangerous for Astral to be alone, so he had to come.

Yuuma suspected that in any rational argument, Astral would win, so he’d resorted to just begging and pouting. It usually worked.

“I think I should stay here.”

“But Astral…” Yuuma clasped his hands together. “Please?”

Astral stared at him. “…fine. If you can tie this tie.”

“But —”

“Yuuma?” Shark’s voice came from the hallway. “Astral?”

“Shark!” Yuuma stuck his head out of the door. “Over here!”

Shark was carrying a folded school uniform under his arm. “Here,” he said. “I figured we were the same size. It’s mine from last year.”

Astral accepted the bundle of clothing. “Why are humans so concerned with nudity?”

Shark choked.

Behind Astral, Yuuma shook his head frantically. He was not explaining the birds and the bees. He wasn’t even sure what the birds and the bees were!

“Look, just put it on!”

Astral sighed and climbed into the bathtub to change behind the curtain. Yuuma had had to talk him through underwear and pants earlier, because the concept of layering hadn’t made any sense to him. Astral kept saying clothes were uncomfortable, and he never wore any, and Yuuma maintained that it was okay if aliens did it but definitely not okay for humans.

Yuuma had won that one, because Astral had looked it up and discovered being naked in public was illegal.

Astral pushed the bright pink shower curtain aside. “Is this correct?”

“It’s good,” Yuuma said. “Shark?”

Shark was gone. Again. Yuuma was gonna have to talk to him about the disappearing thing.

Yuuma shrugged. Time for Astral to learn to run. He’d mastered walking pretty well, so it would be fine. He grabbed Astral’s hand and began pulling him out of the tub.

“Let’s go!” he said. “Don’t forget to wear shoes!”

+++++

“Ooo.” One of Kotori’s friends — Emiko? — pulled on Yuuma’s sleeve. She smiled hugely. “Yuuma?”

Yuuma grinned and puffed out his chest. “Yeah?”

“Can you introduce me to your cute friend?”

“Eh?” Yuuma looked over his shoulder. Kotori had whisked Astral off somewhere to cover his face markings before Yuuma took him to class, and now they were back, and surrounded by girls.

Astral looked like he was panicking.

“Hey, Astral!” Yuuma abandoned Emiko and shoved through the crowd around Kotori and Astral. “Hey! You’re here!”

“Yuuma.” Astral waved weakly at him.

“Whoa, we have to go to the principal’s office, right?” Yuuma grabbed Astral’s wrist and bodily pulled him out of the crowd of students. “Later!”

There was a chorus of groans and sighs, but no one but Kotori followed as Yuuma led Astral down the hallway and around a corner. Astral wobbled as he walking — running had been a bad idea, he got winded really easily — and Yuuma walked closer, so Astral could put his weight on his shoulder.

“I don’t like being a human,” Astral moaned. Yuuma sat him down on a bench and then dug around in his bag.

“Here.” He handed Astral a candy bar. “Eat this.”

“Is it as good as rice?”

Yuuma shook his head sadly. “Just try it. It’ll make you like being a human, I promise.”

Astral tore open the wrapper and gingerly took a bite. He chewed slowly. He stared at the candy bar.

“This is amazing,” he breathed, and then he shoved the entire thing into his mouth.

“Astral!” Kotori yelled. Yuuma was proud. She lowered her voice. “Should you really give him sugar?”

“Hey, Yuum — Astral?” Tetsuo came out of a classroom and stared. “Hey, you’re…visible!”

He looked at Astral, and at Yuuma, and at Astral again. Then he shrugged. “You guys wanna try this expresso? My mom just bought a new coffee machine from Italy.”

Astral held out his hands wordlessly.

+++++

“I’m sorry…who did you say you were again?” Ukyo-sensei peered at Astral’s math exam. Astral stood in front of his desk, back straight, and repeated the lie Yuuma had made up to explain his presence.

“I’m Yuuma’s penpal from out of town.”

Yuuma craned his neck to hear them from his desk in the back. He had three more problems on the exam, but if Astral got in trouble, or if Ukyo-sensei was a secret Barian…no, that was ridiculous. Ukyo-sensei didn’t look like a Barian. Even if his math tests were evil.

“Well, you…you did very well on this exam. Very well. Perhaps Yuuma could take lessons from you — Yuuma, are you finished?”

“…no?”

“Five more minutes.” Ukyo-sensei turned back to Astral. “You got every problem right. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Astral nodded. “I enjoy mathematics. They are much more logical than humans are.”

“…right.”

Yuuma scratched out an answer for the final problem. Maybe if it was illegible, Ukyo-sensei would mistake it for the correct answer. He held up his paper.

“Just leave it there, Yuuma. Go have lunch with your friend.”

“Bye, Ukyo-sensei!”

Yuuma hurried Astral out of the room, before he could refer to humans again.

“Your school is enjoyable,” Astral said. He reached into Yuuma’s lunchbox and pulled out a rice ball. He bit into and continued, mouth full, “Why do you dislike math?”

“Because it’s hard — hey, I was going to eat that!” Yuuma yanked his lunchbox away.

“I’m hungry.”

“Come on, we can go eat on the roof.”

The others were all waiting; Kotori and Tetsuo must had spread the word, because none of them looked surprised to see Astral. They crowded around him, and Takashi handed Astral half his lunch. Yuuma looked down at his lunchbox, with his one rice ball and his fried octopus.

“Astral, how did you become a human?”

“Do you wanna duel?”

“Is it true that you gave Yuuma Hope?”

“Do you like cats?

“Does your face itch? I have some cream in my bag…”

Astral didn’t look like the crowding was bothering him, so Yuuma sat back to watch and eat his lunch. He bit into his rice ball and leaned back against his bag. Once they were done being excited, he could Astral about the math exam.

He finished the rice ball. Everyone was still talking to Astral.

Yuuma examined his fried octopus. It should have been delicious, but eating it didn’t give him any satisfaction.

Everyone was still ignoring him.

They’re not ignoring you, he thought. It’s just…Astral is…

A better duelist? Cooler? Cuter?

Astral’s pretty great, Yuuma thought.

He looked around, suddenly feeling lonely. Astral had eaten half his lunch, but he wasn’t hungry anymore.

+++++

Shark and Kaito were waiting for him at home after school.

Kaito was leaning against the side of the house, and Shark was sitting on the front steps, arms on his knees. They had identical expressions.

Yuuma felt a little like he was about to be grounded.

“Hey!” He waved. Astral did, too. “What’s going on? Did you guys come to hang out with Astral?”

“We came over because the Barians might attack,” Shark said. “Look, I talked to Kaito, and —”

“I’m going to teach both of you some self-defense.” Kaito said.

Yuuma wondered what kind of self-defense he really needed. He was pretty sure Shark was the only person who’d ever tried to punch him.

“Wait a minute, why are you teaching them? Have you ever even punched anyone?” Shark stood up and brushed off the front of his jacket.

“Of course I have.”

Astral looked at him. Yuuma looked back.

“What are they doing?”

“I don’t know. Are they gonna fight?”

Yuuma wondered if he needed an adult.

Kaito shrugged off his jacket and handed it to Orbital 7, who was hanging around the front door and peering through the windows at Obomi again. She was gonna throw bricks at him if he didn’t stop.

“Bring it,” Shark said. He held him his hands.

“Uh, Kaito —”

Kaito punched Shark in the mouth. He staggered backwards, hand over his jaw, and Yuuma yelped, and Akari’s face appeared in the front window, and Astral tried to stand in front of Yuuma.

Yuuma pushed him out of the way just in time to see Shark slam his fist into Kaito’s stomach.

Kaito dropped to the ground, his arms over his middle. He didn’t say anything. He croaked.

“Yeah, I’m gonna teach them.” Shark gestured for Yuuma and Astral to come inside. “Come on.”

Kaito coughed in protest. He stayed out on the porch.

Inside, Shark cleared the center of the living room by pushing all the furniture up against the walls. He stripped off his jacket and threw it on the table. He pointed at a spot on the carpet near the middle of the room.

“Stand there.”

Astral obeyed. Yuuma stood against the wall. He was nervous. But, he thought, how bad could it be?

+++++

The sight of blood dripping from Astral’s lip made Yuuma want to throw up.

Shark wiped the blood off his knuckles while Astral prodded at his own lip and winced. It was dripping down his chin, leaving a tiny red stain on his shirt. It wasn’t the first hit Shark had landed. All of Shark’s hits landed.

But this was worse, somehow. Astral could feel pain even in his real form, but seeing him bleed was wrong. It was alright if Yuuma bled, he was a human, but Astral was supposed to be safe. Yuuma thought about how he’d promised he’d teach Astral how to be a human.

He shivered. Astral was staring at his bloodstained fingertips. He hadn’t wanted Astral to learn this.

“That was better.” Shark snorted. He flexed his fingers. “It still sucked.”

“Leave me him alone! How’s he supposed to learn while you’re hitting him?”

“What do you think the Barians are going to do, Yuuma?” Shark shook his head. “They set guys after Kaito and me, they’ll come after Astral.”

“Yeah, but…” Yuuma stared at his own hands. He’d tried to hit Astral once. That memory felt like it belonged to someone else.

“Alright, fine.” Shark gestured to Yuuma. “You’re up.”

“Ryoga,” Kaito said. His voice had recovered, and he was leaning against the wall and watching. He hadn’t said much. Yuuma supposed with Orbital 7 around, he didn’t do much punching.

“He needs to learn.”

Yuuma nodded. Better him than Astral. He took Astral’s place, and handed him the box of tissues.

Astral stemmed the flow of blood from his lip slowly, like he wasn’t sure how to do it. Yuuma’s mouth ached. He turned to face Shark.

“Hit me.”

“Eh?”

Shark rolled his eyes. “Hit me as hard as you can.”

“But —”

“I just punched Astral in the face,” Shark said.

Yuuma swung.

Shark caught his fist against his palm. It was like punching a wall; Shark didn’t even move, and Yuuma’s hand hurt. He was breathing hard, he realized, even though it had just been one punch.

“Again.”

“But —”

“Then let Astral do it.”

“No.” Yuuma put up his fists. “Let’s go.”

So they fought. Yuuma tried to hit Shark, and Shark yelled at him and adjusted his form, and called him a wimp, and threatened to hit Astral again. Shark didn’t even seem fazed, no matter how much force he put into his blow.

He punched, and he hurt, and he punched, and he hurt, and Astral’s bloody lip clotted and dried in an ugly dark red mass.

But by the time Yuuma held up his hands for a break, sweat dripping down his face, Shark was frowning slightly less. He’d stopped yelling completely, and was just catching Yuuma’s blows in silence. When Yuuma stopped and bent over to breathe, he stepped back.

“Alright, sit down. Astral —”

“He can’t!” Yuuma said. “He’s not strong enough.”

“Yuuma —” Astral grabbed his wrist. His hold was gentle, but not, it seemed, for lack of trying. He was weaker, maybe because his body was new, maybe because he wasn’t a human, but he was.

If he fought, he’d get hurt. Yuuma would get hurt less. He pushed Astral back.

“Astral, you can’t.”

“I need to,” Astral said. He folded his arms across his chest. Sweat had melted the makeup off his face, and streaks of blue were showing through. “We’re partners.”

“But —”

“Shark.” Astral put up his fists. He was doing it wrong. “Let’s go.”

“Fine with me.”

Yuuma had to close his eyes.

+++++

day three

“Yuuma.”

Yuuma moaned. “Akari, no…”

“Yuuma.” Astral prodded him again. “Wake up.”

Yuuma poked his head partially out of his sleeping bag. He stared at Astral, who was fully dressed in his new clothes from the mall, sitting with his Ten Ten Tempo plush in his lap. His hair was wet.

He’d survived a shower. Yuuma was proud.

“It’s Saturday, Astral.” Yuuma sighed. “Humans sleep in.”

“You are being lazy again.” Astral thumped him lightly with his plush. “I wish to experience being a human properly today.”

“Why now? I was sleeping…”

Astral held out his hand. It was mostly pale and solid flesh, but there was a patch of bright, translucent blue. Yuuma could see a piece of the floor through his palm.

“We are running out of time.” Astral looked down. “As I am normally, I cannot interact with the world.”

“You’ve got me,” Yuuma said.

He felt a secret rush of relief, that Astral would be safe, that Yuuma wouldn’t have to share his friends, and he hated himself for it.

“Yes.” Astral nodded. “I want to be like…like your human friends. I wish to understand it. So that I can understand you.”

Yuuma was ashamed of himself, in that moment, for envying Astral anything. They were partners. How could he begrudge Astral anything he had?

“I dunno, Astral.” Yuuma shrugged. “You’re already my best friend.” He looked around. “Help me find my pants, okay?”

Five minutes later, Yuuma had been hustled into an outfit made up of clothes he never wore, his teeth had been brushed, his hair had been touched by a comb, and Astral was shoving a piece of toast into his mouth while he pushed Yuuma out the front door. Yuuma had made him wear gloves.

“We should play a video game,” Astral announced. “And then I want expresso.”

“Okay! Let’s go to the arcade.” Yuuma grinned. “Last one to the train is a rotten egg!”

Yuuma won, but Astral didn’t know what a rotten egg was, so it was a hollow victory.

His favorite arcade was near his favorite card shop, the one he’d gone to with Kazuma. They stopped for coffee, and Astral downed his expresso while Yuuma ate cookies. Then they went into the arcade.

Yuuma exchanged all his money for arcade tokens and handed Astral a handful.

Astral put them in his pocket. He looked around; Yuuma imagined he was analyzing all the games in his head, to decide which was the most fun. He tried to guess — a dueling game? Something that required math?

Astral pointed at the dance game. “That one,” he said.

Yuuma shook his head sadly. He was the best at the dance game. “Prepare to lose, Astral.”

They both put in their coins. Yuuma let Astral pick the song — one of Sanagi-chan’s — and the level, easy, since he was just getting started. Astral read the onscreen instructions intently as the game loaded. The music began to play.

+++++

“Hey!” one of the kids gathered around the dance machine yelled. “You! Blue guy!”

Astral looked down at her while Yuuma was punching in their next round with his last set of coins -- hard mode, the ESPer Robin theme song -- and sulking. Apparently, Astral’s amazing brain let him memorize the sequences of arrows. So if he did a song once, he remembered the entire thing. And once he’d done a couple, he could predict the sequences based on...magic? Yuuma didn’t really understand.

Maybe it was the fact Yuuma was wearing dress pants, and a different t-shirt, and not his lucky underwear. It was throwing him off.

They’d run through the entire easy and medium mode catalogue, and a crowd had gathered to cheer them --mostly Astral -- on. Yuuma hit the buttons as hard as he could; this time, he was going to win! Astral might be his teacher in dueling, but he couldn’t be good at everything! He was still bad at walking in a straight line if he got distracted!

“Yes?”

“What’s with your face?”

Yuuma answered for Astral. “He’s from out of town!”

The girl shrugged and gave them a thumbs up. “Way cool! Kick Yuuma’s butt!”

“Hey!” Yuuma pointed at her. “I’m gonna win this one! You’ll see!”

The machine counted down. “Three...two...one....DANCE!”

“Go!”

It was a fast song, and Yuuma stomped on the arrows furiously as he tried to keep up. Up, up, left, right, up, up, right, left, arms flailing as he tried to keep his balance. The singer wailed loudly about ESPer Robin and the light of justice.

Beside him, Astral stepped to the beat. He never looked like he was moving fast, and his arms stayed awkwardly at his sides, like he didn’t know what to do with them. But the combo counter on his side of the screen was getting higher and higher.

“And...complete! The winner is...ASTRAL!”

“Woo!” Someone in the crowd of onlookers yelled. “Go, blue guy!”

“I believe I understand this game fully.” Astral hopped off the machine. “Is there...dueling?”

Yuuma turned out his empty pockets. “Let’s get some more coins,” he said. “I’ll show you the duel puzzles.”

The duel puzzles were a set of machines where every level was a set up of a duel, and to win you had to make the correct set of moves. Yuuma sometimes played in order to try and improve his dueling, but past the first few levels the game was hard. His tactics just weren’t up to par yet.

Yuuma bet Astral would love it. He shoved him into the seat and handed him a new handful of coins, then pulled up a chair to watch.

“You get a prize if you beat the last level,” Yuuma explained. “It’s pretty good! They have rare cards.”

Astral’s eyes narrowed. “Rare cards?”

“Yep.”

He started up the game. Yuuma sat back and watched as Astral flew through the first three levels without so much as blinking, a tiny smile on his face every time the screen flashed VICTORY! He mouthed words to himself as he played, a habit Yuuma hadn’t known he’d had. They hadn’t bothered with the make up today, since Yuuma had no idea what he was doing, and the markings on Astral’s face glittered fainted in the light.

Level four took Astral a long time. Eventually Yuuma came to the answer himself, and he reached out to tap Astral on the shoulder and offer his help.

Then he looked down. Astral’s hands were trembling on the controls so badly he could barely play.

“Astral?”

“I believe perhaps I should have danced less,” Astral murmured. He flexed his fingers. “This is difficult.”

He tried to play one magic card, and the control slid too far to the right, then up instead of down. Astral scowled, and tried again, more slowly. It took him almost two minutes to select one card.

“I can do it for you…” Maybe the expresso had been a bad idea. Akari got like that sometimes when she was coming up on a deadline and chewing coffee grounds instead of sleeping.

“No.” Astral flapped his hands angrily. “I want to do it myself. Please.”

“Okay.”

He struggled silently through two more levels, and then started grumbling, quietly, under his breath as he did it. Astral would start to talk to himself, and then stop abruptly, and then start again. It was weird. Yuuma had always been under the impression Astral liked talking, or at least he liked talking to Yuuma.

“This is a pretty hard level.”

“It would be for you.” Astral squinted at the screen. “You often lack foresight.”

“Hey!”

Astral opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Closed it.

“You look like a goldfish.”

“I forget that others can hear me now.”

“This place is pretty loud.” Yuuma waved at the kids everywhere, thronging around the games and squabbling at the counter for prizes. “No one’s gonna notice.”

Yuuma was known to yell at games when he lost, so he figured it was alright.

“I suppose you are correct.” Astral finished level seven by activating a trap card. The next level began loading.

“‘Reduce the opponent’s life points to zero without destroying any of their monsters in battle.’” Astral read. “Therefore, I must rely on card effects. As you can see, Yuuma, we can use the equip spell to…”

Yuuma leaned in to listen.

+++++

“Hey, Astral. Your face…” Yuuma tapped the side of his chin.

Astral brushed his face with his fingertips. A portion of his jaw had become translucent and blue again; the light caught oddly in it from the setting sun. The arcade owner had finally kicked them out ten minutes after closing, but not until after Yuuma had demanded he give Astral the prize for winning the duel puzzle game.

Now he was carrying a copy of Parallel Unit in his deck case. It looked cool, Yuuma thought, even though he wasn’t sure how it would fit into their strategy.

“Soon I won’t be a human anymore.”

Yuuma could see the sunset reflected in Astral’s eyes.

“I wish you could have been a human for longer,” he said. Yuuma stared up at the sky. “There’s a lot of stuff we could do.”

“It was...pleasant,” Astral said. “To interact with things. And with people.”

It’s not fair, Yuuma thought. Why does Astral have to be lonely…

He shook his head. Being sad about it wouldn’t do either of them any good. “Hey, come on! I wanna show you something.” He linked his arm in Astral’s.

They ran, Astral stumbling behind him and hanging onto his arm, up the sidewalk and into the grass and up the hillside until they were underneath a bridge. Yuuma flopped down in the grass.

“See?” He pointed out at the harbor. “It’s nice, right?”

The sun was sinking into the horizon, leaving the surface of the ocean bright orange. A sea breeze blew towards them, salty and cool. The bridge vibrated overhead as the rush hour traffic drove by; it made a deep humming noise.

“This is the kind of thing Dad and I would do.”

“I see.” Astral closed his eyes. Yuuma watched as the wind pulled at his hair. “This is what I like about being human.”

“The wind?”

“Being a part of the world.” Astral tilted his head back. “Not a...a ghost.”

It was strange, having Astral be with him and not be invisible. But it was, Yuuma thought, a good kind of strange.

He reached out and grabbed Astral’s hand.

It was warm, and sweaty, except for the cold places where he’d reverted to being blue.

“Astral, you --”

The explosion drowned out the rest of his sentence.

There was light, and fear, and pain. And then nothing, just black.

+++++

“...ugh.” He was on the ground.

His stomach hurt. His neck was too hot. Something had…something was?

“Astral,” Yuuma croaked. Or tried to croak. His mouth wouldn’t move and tasted of dirt. Then it came to him. Where was Astral? He tried to open his eyes.

He couldn’t. There was something heavy and warm on his face, getting sucked into his nostrils and mouth when he breathed. Yuuma struggled, but his arms, his legs, his body wouldn’t...move…

“Yuuma, stay down,” someone was yelling. Their voice seemed far, far away. I’m already down, Yuuma thought at the voice. But Astral?

He’s in the Key, right? There was blood pounding in his ears. Right?

“Yuuma,” someone was yelling again. They sounded upset. They sounded familiar.

Oh, Yuuma thought. Astral. I found you.

He was relieved.

And then: why is he on top of me?

Suddenly he knew he had to move. Yuuma strained, pushed, felt his muscles burn in protest, but he lifted up a few inches. Astral shifted, and there was air on Yuuma’s face. He inhaled.

“Astral!”

“Yuuma, no!”

He caught a glimpse of Astral’s face as he was shoved back down against the grass. There was blood on it again.

Yuuma wasn’t aware of his limbs moving, He was just aware of the way the world tilted as he rolled over, and the sight of Astral’s split lip reopened and bleeding, and wetness against his collar as he shielded Astral’s head with his shoulders.

He braced his elbows against the ground. It was shaking, or maybe he was; Yuuma couldn’t see or hear well enough to tell. He closed his eyes.

His head hurt.

There was a flash of light nearby, huge and pink and bright under behind his eyelids.

Yuuma’s cheek stung as something sharp sliced across his skin.

He grit his teeth as the shaking got worse. Yuuma swallowed a throatful of bile. His elbows were sinking into the dirt. He could still feel Astral, solid and alive, and that was all that mattered. No matter what was coming. If he could just…

...hang on…

...he went down.

Yuuma was facedown in the grass. Everything was tinted blue.

And then it was quiet. He struggled up onto his arms again. Yuuma blinked furiously, straining to see, and made out the faint shape of Astral’s blue body. There was a cold hand on his arm.

Oh, good, Yuuma thought. He can still touch me.

“Yuuma!”

He collapsed.

+++++

“So, a Barian showed up to attack you,” Shark said, “and they just disappeared?”

Now that he was awake, Yuuma groaned and covered his face with his arm. Why was Shark so noisy? He’d been having a good dream --

“Astral?” He looked around. He was in the spare bedroom.

“Here.” Astral was floating above him, arms crossed. The ceiling fan was spinning dangerously close to his head.

“What happened?”

“We were attacked.” Astral scowled. “You tried to shield me --”

“You were bleeding -- you did it first!”

“And then I reverted to my usual form. At which point our attackers left.”

“Eh? Why?”

“That’s the problem,” Kaito said. Yuuma hadn’t even noticed him; he was leaning against the wall by the door. “They had a perfect opportunity to kill both of you.”

“It is suspicious,” Astral agreed.

“Maybe they were worried about us doing Zexal?” Yuuma asked. “I mean, we couldn’t do it as humans, right?”

“Why?” Shark asked.

“Wouldn’t Astral’s body get in the way?”

Astral inclined his head. Yuuma took that as a yes.

“But then,” Kaito said, “that might be why Astral suddenly turned into a human. To separate the two of you and then pick you off alone.”

“It didn’t last long,” Astral said. He was looking at his hands.

“Doesn’t mean they won’t try again.”

“Well, we’re prepared now, and Astral has a deck, so if it happens again, we’ll be careful.” Yuuma grinned. “And next time we have to eat more food!”

“I would like that.”

Kaito and Shark looked at each other. Kaito nodded, and Shark patted Yuuma on the shoulder, and the two of them left. The bedroom room shut behind them. There was some muffled yelling from the hallway, probably Akari, who though Kaito and Shark were both bad influences.

He lay back down on the bed. His head still hurt, and his right ear was ringing.

“Man, it sucks…” Yuuma yawned hugely. “Astral, you missed out on a lot of cool human stuff. Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Astral floated down beside him onto the bed. “Besides…”

He reached out and gently touched Yuuma’s shoulder. His hand didn’t sink through. Yuuma felt it.

It was cold and felt a little like too-solid jelly, but it was Astral’s hand.

Yuuma beamed.

Then it hit him. “Wait, can you eat? Do you wanna try ice cream?”

+++++

“Well,” Durbe asked impatiently. He crossed his arms. “Was it a success?”

Vector laughed. He went on for almost a minute, cackling as his face contorted, until all four of them were looking away to avoid the sight of him, even Durbe.

“Yes, Durbe.” Vector clapped. “They have a weakness we can use…”


End file.
